Planning to use a small propane
heater in large tent for extended family. With ventilation, is a
propane heater any problem re. carbon monoxide? Rocky

In my opinion the use of propane heaters in an enclosed area is
potentially VERY dangerous. Most common, small propane heaters
(like the Coleman and Century models) are not rated for indoor use, and
they can kill you. Other propane heaters (like the kinds used in
homes, houseboats, motorhomes) have catalytic converters (I believe)
and are rated for indoor use.

By far the most common kind of small propane heaters that are rated for
indoor use are the Mr. Heater Portable Buddy and Big Buddy
models. They give off small amounts of CO and have low-oxygen
sensors, and with a bit of ventilation they're pretty darn safe.
I've used my Portable Buddy indoors many times. You can connect
them to the small 1# propane canisters (from Target or WalMart or tons
of other places), or get an adaptor hose and feed them from a 20#
"barbeque-type" of propane tank.

I am from the south and while I do not currently have fireplace or woodstove, fatlight as it is called in the south is a great kindling. It comes from the decayed stump of a pine tree and has concentrated oils in it and you can sometimes just light the end of it with a cigarette lighter.

hi to all, i want to buy a wood burnig stove in the next couple of months, one that will not put me in the poor house, i like to be able to heat the downstairs 4 rooms of my house ,and be able to heat or make water hot on it ,cooking on it would be great, novice buyer here .any body got any reconmendations , I live in connecticut,if all else fails we have a small pot belly stove in storage, but if no oil for furnice, and i believe the price of oil will be out of this world this winter , i'd like to have something reliable thanks for any help you can post roxy

hi and thanks for posting, I checked the site,the problem with making this for my home is my windows slide from right to left, not up and down. but this would also be good for some one making a green house, they could add this to their plans roxy

I wanted my fireplace cleaned, well bad news for us, It was put in wrong, they took out all the firebrick, then they had a home made woodburner. I was glad to find that out early. Now need over 500 dollars to replace it. So please dont wait call to have your fireplace or wood burner cleaned and check out now.

We use a pellet stove. If we loose power during the winter we can't run it.

Is there anything we can do to heat the house? Is there a way to convert it somehow, still using the pellets? Or a way to battery operate the fan system? We won't care that it isn't using the thermastate, we can control that ourselves by starting and stopping it. I figure by that point, we will drape off and only heat the livng room, kitchen area, and sleep in the lr.

any ideas?

Edited later - I just found another thread that said you can run the fan system off a car battery for about 18 hours give or take.

My word - first I will be syphoning my car for gas for the generator, then stealing my own battery when that runs out...what then? lol

I have a coleman portable catalytic heater that is rated for indoor use and it is 3000 btu's. I used it during an icestorm when the power was out and it only put out enough heat to keep one average size (closed off) room bearable. One canister of propane lasts 6-8 hours.

Thanks for the info, Chloe! I was looking at the Coleman heaters, perhaps the one that is skinny and upright, or the one that looks like a big light bulb that sits at an angle.

So yours at 3000 BTUs kept one room bearable? What temp do you think it was in your room? I would consider temps in the 50s to be bearable, and the 40s to be survivable. We usually keep our thermostat set at 62 during the night in the winter.

If one canister lasts just 6-8 hours, and if there is a long power outage, that means you'd have to have many canisters stocked away! Is that doable?

Where do you buy the canisters? I haven't found them online.

Are there other viable strategies for heating without a fireplace?

I've also considered getting a solar generator system with enough power to run an electric space heater, but it would be quite expensive.

I wanted my fireplace cleaned, well bad news for us, It was put in wrong, they took out all the firebrick, then they had a home made woodburner. I was glad to find that out early. Now need over 500 dollars to replace it. So please dont wait call to have your fireplace or wood burner cleaned and check out now.

excellent point,,we just had ours done too and found out the bricks on top were crumbling,,etc,,(they took a polaroid up there and brought it back down to us to see) our house is 40 plus years old so things do age from time to time. but importantly,,,we need to spend 1800.00 bucks for a new pan and restoration. i am just glad we found out about it too before heavy usage occurs in our fireplace!

O.K. Could someone please tell me how many Logs you use in 1Day in your fireplace, or your cook stove for heating and cooking. I don't have alot of room to store 4 cords of wood. Just trying to get a good guess of what I really need in amount of wood logs. Thanks

My wood burning fireplace was converted to natural gas, next week having nat. gas taken out.,coverted back to wood burning. And a chimmey stack put in for wood burning cook stove. Thanks

c bass'n - I will tell you what we use. We have a 2000 sq ft house on one floor. Our wood stove is in our living room and that room has a 14 foot ceiling. When we are home, we use our wood stove for our primary heat. We usually keep our thermostats set on 60 and when burning in the wood stove our boiler doesn't come on. We live in the Northeast and our winters are cold and snowy. We usually go through about 4 cords of wood a winter. Remember, that is part time use. To heat totally with wood, it would take us at least twice that amount. Of course, we could stretch it out by blocking off part of the house. Don't know what size your house is and how cold it gets where you are at, so the question is kind of hard to answer. Also it depends on what kind of wood you get. Different kinds produce different BTU's. We are lucky enough to live in the woods and most of our trees are hardwood's - Oak and maple etc.

I just bought a small old cast iron coal cook stove for $65 and refinished it. High quality clean burning coal is very cheap and can be bought and stored in 50 lb bags. It burns much cleaner than wood, doesn't absorb water like wood and burns all day long. I have used it in the backyard to try it out and am convinced , for me, that is the way to go. Seems so much easier than wood.

soot? How often do you have to clean stove pipe? Could it catch on fire...like chimney fire? I have to ask...as it sounds good, but I have zero knowledge of coal burning.

.....................

also... on the first ...second? post up there with the alcohol burning heater/paint can? If you used it in a small room, and needed to crack a window for ventilation...you need to do that right? well it's well below zero a lot...would it even give off enough heat? with a window cracked?

anharra, I can't answer your soot question except to say that if you do not clean the soot from the pipes periodically (depends on how much use it gets) you could have a MAJOR pile of black sticky oily dust all over the room your stove pipe is in - if not thru the rest of the house. Hard woods tend to burn cleaner/hotter so the flu build-up will be slower - NEVER burn pine in your fireplace. Yes it's cheap and easliy available but the sap will build up on your chimney liner and can lead to a flu fire

You NEED to open a window (even just a crack - not wide open) when you have a fuel source burning in your home or garage. Even my little ceramic heater recommends ventilation of the room. Keeps the carbon monoxide levels at bay and fresh oxygen coming in (for the heating unit to burn properly and more importantly for you to breathe). I would also remind everyone to get a Carbon Monoxide detector for their home.

Keep a fire extiguisher, water (not for electrical sources) or a box/bag of baking soda close by your fire/heat source. You can't go running to the garage to dig it out in a time of need. If it's not close by- simply get out and call 911. Even if it's close by and you use it, call 911 and have the trained firefighters check to be sure there is no fire spreading elsewhere behind your walls.

"We do not know the true value of moments until they have undergone the test of memory." unknown author

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